Team Fortress 2

June 23, 2011—Valve, creators of bestselling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), announced today that after four years and over 200 updates, its popular and critically-acclaimed online action game Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is now Free To Play (F2P). The F2P announcement comes as part of the "Über Update". Released today, it is the largest content pack delivered to TF2 since it shipped in 2007.

New players interested in experiencing what PC Gamer calls "the most fun you can have online" will have access to training and offline practice modes, so they can hone their skills before jumping into the ever-expanding TF2 universe.To celebrate the launch of the Über Update, Valve has released "Meet the Medic," the latest in its series of TF2 animated shorts.

Valve today announces the introduction of Replays within Team Fortress 2, the multiplayer classic which has received over 200 updates since its initial release. The Replay system enables players to retrace their game lives, make movies of them, and then share them with friends via YouTube™ and the Steam Community. The Replay system is available immediately in the most recent update of the game.

Gameplay rounds are recorded by Replay-enabled servers, allowing players to make and save movies of their recent lives while in-game. Players can then use the Replay Editor to direct custom movies. The editor supports the selection and positioning of cameras from multiple viewpoints, edits and cuts between shots, motion blur, and anti-aliasing, resulting in unique and memorable creations to be shared among friends.

Players can upload their replays to YouTube™ right from within the game. They can then link their YouTube™ and Steam accounts to share them with Friends in the Steam Community, where others can watch replays and post comments.

In celebration of the release of Replays within Team Fortress 2, Valve is hosting the first-ever "Saxxy Awards," a two-week event featuring twenty categories. Players may nominate themselves by submitting replays online by midnight, May 20th GMT. Winners of each category will receive a Saxxy of their very own.

To create and share your replays, simply launch today's updated version of TF2. For Saxxy Awards contest details and rules, and to learn more about this latest update, visit: http://www.teamfortress.com/replayupdate.